Tao Hongjing

Tao Hongjing

This data is provided by the project of achievement transformation and standardization promotion of TCM terminology of State Administration of traditional Chinese medicine.

Tao Hongjing (456-536) was born in moling, Danyang (now Nanjing, Jiangsu Province) after he was named Huayang hermit. He was a teacher, alchemist and pharmacist in Qi and Liang dynasties.

Life of the characters

He was a scholar in the Southern Dynasty. At the age of 10, he read "the legend of immortals" and had the ambition of keeping in good health. At the age of 15, he wrote "the chronicles of seeking mountains" and admired reclusive life. At the age of 20, Emperor Gao of Qi was cited as the official of the kings, and later paid homage to the general in Zuowei hall. When he was about 30 years old, he was taught by Taoist sun youyue. He was taught by Fu Tu, Jing FA and Gao Jue, so he traveled all over the famous mountains to search for the true Sutra of fairy medicine. In the sixth year of Yongming in the Southern Qi Dynasty (488), Yang Xi and Xu Mi got the original handwritten works in Maoshan. In the eighth year of Yongming Dynasty, he went to the east to pay homage to local residents and masters. Yongming ten years (492), resigned from the imperial court Shilu, hermit Jurong sentence Qushan (today's Jiangsu Maoshan), pass on the Qing Dynasty Dadong scriptures, open the way to teach Maoshan sect. After emperor Liang Wu ascended the throne, he sent envoys many times, but he was not able to get out of the mountain. When the imperial court had important affairs, it often went to consult, and there were frequent letters. At that time, it was called "prime minister in the mountains". Tao Hongjing inherited Lao Zhuang's philosophy and Ge Hong's immortal thought, combined with the concepts of Taoism and Buddhism, advocated the confluence of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism, and believed that "there is no crossing the realm of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism". After Lu Xiujing, he made great contribution in further collating Taoist Scriptures. He compiled the map of true spiritual position and karma, which arranged the world of deities with strict hierarchy, including the gods, the earth, the ghosts and the immortals. He also collated Shennong's materia medica classic, added new drugs used by famous doctors in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and compiled seven volumes of notes on materia medica classic, which recorded more than 700 kinds of drugs (the original book has been lost, and now only Dunhuang remains). In addition to the above mentioned works, there are Zhengao, dengzhen yinjue, Yangxing Yanming Lu, jijindan Huangbai Fang, yaozongjue, Huayang Tao Yinju Ji, etc. He is good at calligraphy, painting and playing chess. Calligrapher in Caoli, the painting halal. There are paintings and calligraphy such as the painting of Er Niu, the painting of Shan Ju and the inscription of Yi He.

Character achievement

The founding of maoshanzong

Tao Hongjing is an important inheritor of Shangqing school. During his official career as a Taoist of the Qing Dynasty in Maoshan, he wrote a large number of Taoist books in order to carry forward the Sutra of the Qing Dynasty, especially Zhengao, which is of the nature of sect history. The book gives a systematic account of the history of shangqingjing's teaching and various deified descriptions of its origin and transcendence. As Tao Hongjing mainly taught Shangqing scriptures during his stay in Maoshan, and he did a lot of work to promote Shangqing scriptures. In addition, he was very famous, and even had many believers in the government and the public. Therefore, from him on, Maoshan actually became the center of Shangqing school. In addition, most of the descendants of Maoshan after Tao Hongjing were more learned and famous Taoists of the Qing Dynasty, so Maoshan has always maintained its central position in the school of the Qing Dynasty. In this way, starting from Tao Hongjing, Maoshan actually represented the Shangqing school, so people called the later Shangqing school maoshanzong, and took Tao Hongjing as the founder of maoshanzong. Since Tao Hongjing founded the Maoshan school, it has experienced Sui, Tang and Song Dynasties, with a large number of talents, and has always occupied an important position in Taoism.

Tao Hongjing also compiled a genealogy of Taoist immortals. The first genealogy of Taoist immortals compiled by Tao Hongjing is called the map of the true spiritual position, which contains about 3000 celestial gods, earthly gods, human ghosts and many immortals. It is arranged in seven levels.

Pharmacist

Tao Hongjing is one of the most important figures in the early history of Chinese materia medica. In his time, there were more than 10 herbal books, but there was no unified standard. Especially, the ancient herbal books were inconvenient in clinical application due to their long-term failure, scattered contents, indistinguishable grass and stone, and indistinguishable insects and animals. Tao Hongjing took on the important task of "collecting all the classics and studying the province". He sorted out all the herbal works at that time into Shennong's herbal classic and famous doctors' records respectively, and then combined them into one. With his personal experience in this aspect, he wrote a collection of notes to the herbal classic, which collected 730 kinds of drugs. He initiated the drug classification method that has been used so far, including jade, plants and insects It is a milestone in the development of Chinese materia medica.

Alchemist

Tao Hongjing had been engaged in the experiment of alchemy for a long time. Emperor Wu of Liang gave him gold, cinnabar, Zeng Qing, realgar and other raw materials to alchemy. He mastered a lot of chemical knowledge in the process of alchemy. For example, mercury can form amalgam with some metals, and amalgam can be plated. One of Tao Hongjing's contributions to chemistry is to record the flame analysis method of potassium nitrate: "at first, someone got a kind of substance, and its color and texture are similar to those of sodium nitrite, which is as good as holding snow but not ice. Strong burning, purple smoke, still into ash, keep boiling, such as Glauber's salt, cloud is really Xiaoshi also The so-called "ziqingyanqi" is the unique property of potash. The record of Tao Hongjing is the earliest record of potash identification in the history of world chemistry.

reclusive distinguished men

In 492, Tao Hongjing resigned from office and retired from Jurong, Jiangsu Province. After he ascended the throne (502), Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, repeatedly failed to do so. However, he read his old merit: "the more gracious and courteous he was, the more books he asked.". In the third year of Tianjian (504), Emperor Wu of Liang sent people to send gold, cinnabar, Zeng Qing, realgar and other things for alchemy; in the 13th year of Tianjian, Zhuyang hall was built in Maoshan to live there; in the 15th year of Tianjian, Taiqing Xuantan was built for it to "understand the Dharma" and "every time the country had good or bad fortune to ask for important things, it would always consult, and in the middle of the month, people would call it the prime minister in the mountains.". Tao Hongjing lived in seclusion in Maoshan for 45 years. He was 81 years old. Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty issued an imperial edict to zhongsan doctor, posthumous title: Mr. Zhenbai.

Character works

According to statistics, there are 70 or 80 kinds of Tao Hongjing's works. Up to now, there are still Zhengao, taixuanzhenyibenjijing · daoxingpin, zhenlingweiyetu, dengzhenyinjue, jiubeijifang, Jizhu of Materia Medica classic, taoyinju Materia Medica, yaozongjue, Daoyin Yangsheng Tu, Yangxing Yanming Lu, Jiedu of hedanyao, jijindan Huangbai Fang, Taiqing Zhudan Jiyao, and so on Astronomical astrology, the calendar of the emperor and the collection of Hua Yang Tao's seclusion, etc.

Chinese PinYin : Tao Hong Jing